Interesting that the Strikers are a new franchise rather than an established club. That should leave the competition with flexibility to select clubs. It will allow teams to be set up in Sacramento and Obetz Ohio as mentioned before if a group of backers were interested.

ihateblazers wrote:Interesting that the Strikers are a new franchise rather than an established club. That should leave the competition with flexibility to select clubs. It will allow teams to be set up in Sacramento and Obetz Ohio as mentioned before if a group of backers were interested.

The Strikers will be an interesting case study when it comes to building out an entire organization from professional side to youth outreach.

Although they are not currently a club, did some digging awhile ago and they have an alumni base. The Strikers name is one of a defunct club that was in Houston.

ihateblazers wrote:Interesting that the Strikers are a new franchise rather than an established club. That should leave the competition with flexibility to select clubs. It will allow teams to be set up in Sacramento and Obetz Ohio as mentioned before if a group of backers were interested.

The Strikers will be an interesting case study when it comes to building out an entire organization from professional side to youth outreach.

Although they are not currently a club, did some digging awhile ago and they have an alumni base. The Strikers name is one of a defunct club that was in Houston.

It could be a model to follow. It could possibly allow USA Rugby to decentralise the development pathways. They could offer elite coaching resources, facilities and possibly funding in the future. I don't think that an official academy​would be needed but a youth programme funneling through the schools and local clubs could eventually Morphy into one, in rugby you don't really need acadmies as long as the local schools and clubs are adequately run.

ihateblazers wrote:Interesting that the Strikers are a new franchise rather than an established club. That should leave the competition with flexibility to select clubs. It will allow teams to be set up in Sacramento and Obetz Ohio as mentioned before if a group of backers were interested.

The Strikers will be an interesting case study when it comes to building out an entire organization from professional side to youth outreach.

Although they are not currently a club, did some digging awhile ago and they have an alumni base. The Strikers name is one of a defunct club that was in Houston.

It could be a model to follow. It could possibly allow USA Rugby to decentralise the development pathways. They could offer elite coaching resources, facilities and possibly funding in the future. I don't think that an official academy​would be needed but a youth programme funneling through the schools and local clubs could eventually Morphy into one, in rugby you don't really need acadmies as long as the local schools and clubs are adequately run.

The pyramid model they've made public shows an intent to do something along those lines. It's something every one of the clubs involved should be doing. Looking to muster every High School and College club within their state or region under their banner. A way of doing this would be to actively run clinics for players and coaches alike focusing on skill and game development. Regular contact has a huge effect when drawing interest and support.

This would also include working with these clubs to develop action plans designed around growing their participation numbers.

The pyramid model they've made public shows an intent to do something along those lines. It's something every one of the clubs involved should be doing. Looking to muster every High School and College club within their state or region under their banner. A way of doing this would be to actively run clinics for players and coaches alike focusing on skill and game development. Regular contact has a huge effect when drawing interest and support.

This would also include working with these clubs to develop action plans designed around growing their participation numbers.

I knew that Houston rang a bell. I remember reading about this and it is a pretty similar concept. Same idea of collaborating with local clubs and schools. Should also add Rugby Utah as another franchise which is attempting something similar.

Fair to say I got it completely wrong about Rindell and USAR conspiring together to undermine PRO. Either that or he has had a recent falling out with them? If he is affiliated to the Major league project then he needs to be a bit more professional in his dealings with the union.

Bruce_ma_goose wrote:Fair to say I got it completely wrong about Rindell and USAR conspiring together to undermine PRO. Either that or he has had a recent falling out with them? If he is affiliated to the Major league project then he needs to be a bit more professional in his dealings with the union.

I don't think Ridnell is associated with MLR in any official way. He's essentially just a blogger, whose writing primarily consists of critiques and attempts to instigate change from USA Rugby. This isn't a falling out; it's par for the course.

Bruce_ma_goose wrote:Fair to say I got it completely wrong about Rindell and USAR conspiring together to undermine PRO. Either that or he has had a recent falling out with them? If he is affiliated to the Major league project then he needs to be a bit more professional in his dealings with the union.

I don't think Ridnell is associated with MLR in any official way. He's essentially just a blogger, whose writing primarily consists of critiques and attempts to instigate change from USA Rugby. This isn't a falling out; it's par for the course.

Fairly certain while TR has a direct line to those behind the MLR he isn't actually associated with it.

Long term, absolutely. Short term I think there would be some competitive balance issues with Canadian talent basically spread over 2 teams and American talent spread over 10 teams (plus anyone not moving to one of those 10 teams, which is obviously a real issue as it didn't happen all the time in PRO either). Plus, the Canadian provinces need to make sure they're able to handle it off the field as well.

There's no club team in Canada who could afford to pay players and take on the travel costs that would be associated with MLR. Even the CRC teams have little to no money currently. Though if any teams could eventually get the investment to participate it's probably the BC Bears and Ontario Blues.

Watched Cal-St Mary's. Quite a bit of young talent out there. SMC's prop Payton Talea was dominant in the scrum against Cal and was quite the handful with ball in hand as well. He's only a freshman so one to keep an eye on for the future. A couple freshmen stood out for Cal as well. Keanu Andrade had a good game at 9 and Sam Cusano had a good game on the wing. These are all guys who should be in the U20s, but who knows if Cal and SMC players will play U20s this year.

Entertaining match the SMC won 27-24. Their first win in Berkeley in over 40 years.